USCIS started selecting additional H-1B lottery registrations this week from the registrations that were not selected in March 2020. The newly selected registrations have notices that say “August 2020 Selection of Reserve Registration” and indicate a filing period of 8/17/2020 – 11/16/2020.
USCIS’s first ever electronic H-1B visa lottery process successfully took place this year despite significant concerns about the agency’s ability to implement and execute such an online tool. USCIS received nearly 275,000 registrations between March 1 and March 20, 2020. The number of registrations increased by nearly 30% this year (USCIS received 199,000 H-1B petitions in last year’s lottery), which is not surprising given the relative ease of the online registration process compared to the practice in previous years of filing complete H-1B petitions the first week of April.
Read MoreUSCIS has announced that it will resume premium processing on Tuesday, February 19, 2019, for all H-1B petitions (transfers, extensions, amendments, etc.) filed on or before December 21, 2018.
Read MoreUSCIS confirmed this morning through publication of a final rule that it would change the order in which it runs the annual H-1B visa lottery to maximize selection of candidates with US Master's degrees.
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